It was a grey miserable day out photographing the canola fields nears Harden, NSW, so I've added a Gascoyne rainbow to add some more colour. Hopefully, this does turn into a pot of gold and is not ruined by all the recent bad weather.

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods...

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart...

(Psalm 95:3,7-8)

Peace and freedom and justice and the law were broken by the police during the demonstration in Berlin;

the government, which is responsible for it,

now shows its true totalitarian face shamelessly open.

Now everything that was feared for months is coming true -

wake up, people all over the world,

and try to stop this development all together!

[29. August 2020]

Fossil dunes are hardened sand dunes shaped uniquely by desert wind . Though it looks hard these are breakable sandstones which changes its shapes very slowly unlike normal sand dunes. Normal sand dunes moves and changes shapes frequently according to wind. Fossil Funes @ Abu Dhabi

....Harden

Smuggler's Cove, Meteghan, Nova Scotia Canada

A wonderful day, took lots of shots, so not going to waste any! People in the valley were walking around in the foggy gloom, with rather glum faces, people up here were jogging, bike riding, dog walking etc, all smiles and greetings 'isn't it a lovely day' ......just shows how the conditions affect us. Minus 4C today.

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along"

- Rumi

Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qGbtW1THC8

MICHAEL BALL & IL DIVO

The overhead storm clouds cast their shadows

washing away the pride in me

pride comes before a fall

I learned that at my father's knee

or was it that I just misremembered

perhaps it was pride comes before a fool

it matters less in this definitive moment

it may always remain a mystery

I listen hard for signs of rain

I imagine the coolness on my skin

I thought I heard a rumble of thunder

is it true that rain will wash away our sins

for surely we have taken a wrong turning

this blessed heat without humidity

the dew drops sparkle in the sunlight

a mirage mirroring my humility

rosé rosée like pink champagne

smooth like cultured pearls it seems

like the many facets of a zillion diamonds

have been erased in many sultry dreams

wish that I could stay in this moment

give up the fight for any more

be contented; savour and relish

these small things that should be adored

but in my reverie I am safe

and the waters I paddle are extremely shallow

but that's not me, I must take the plunge

swim out of my depth; the wickless tallow

melts in the hot relentless sun

emerging now beneath it's shroud

the ether smells so strong of ozone

by the sea as dissolving clouds

dissipate and my anticipation

disappears like urban myths

that once seemed honest, true and permanent

but now appear rarified as Scotch mist

I play the music it fills the air

the ivory keys invisibly stained with blood

the ebony hardened like the wounded stare

of civilisations misunderstood

when will we learn to be as one

is it so hard to find harmony

the rhythm of Mendelssohn's fragmented vision

resounds in my ears and soothing me

I pick up the notes with nimble fingers

disperse them into the universe

hoping that someone, somewhere will hear them

and heal our planet, not make it worse

transferring thoughts like transference of scores

of tiny notes that alone have only partial impact

I begin to play a different theme tune to my life

love changes everything; to me that is a fact.

- AP - Copyright © remains with and is the intellectual property of the author

Copyright © protected image please do not reproduce without permission

Welsh slate is sedimentary. English slate is metamorphosed. So I was told. Up here in Honister there isn't a lot of evidence of a slate industry in the way that there is in Snowdonia. And that is because the slate here is mined. You can see the old incline going up the side of the Honister Pass, and the top drum house just below the fringe of cloud, but even the waste spoil taken out of the tunnels and caverns inside the mountain is jusr tipped through a hole in the side to spill like natural scree.

There is a small 'modern' quarry on the summit above where I'm stood to take this shot, but they just seem to crush the stone for a gravel. There were no trucks up there over the weekend but the thought of driving a wagon with twenty tonnes of stone behind me down the only tight zig zag track to the bottom would have me terrified of the brakes failing.

I hadn't been to Honister before, but it stands in amazing countryside with dramatic walks in all directions. And apart from walking, climbing, and mine tours, there are new activities such as the Via Ferrata. I quite like the idea of this although of course it won't be for hardened climbers. Take a look. I'm not sure what the photographic opportunities are while you're on it, but I would like to try! www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QGx3R8ijSY

(The Via Ferrata is just below me and to the left in this shot, on this side of the Honister Pass)

Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville, Florida

A large, orange-billed tern, the Royal Tern is found only along ocean beaches.

The Royal Tern makes its nest scrape on the ground on low-lying islands. The pair defecates directly on the nest rim, perhaps to reinforce the nest against flooding. After a few weeks, the nest rim hardens.

Young Royal Terns leave the nest scrape within one day after hatching and congregate together in a group known as a creche. Eventually all of the chicks in a colony come to the creche, which can have thousands of chicks ranging in age from two to 35 days old. A pair of Royal Terns will feed only their own chick, and manage to find it in the crowd, probably by recognizing its call.

The oldest recorded Royal tern was at least 30 years, 6 months old when it was found in Belize in 2013. It had been banded in North Carolina in 1983

8210 and 8237 twist down through the Cullerin range with 9327N from Inner Harbour to Cunningar near Harden for another load of grain.

Monday 18th January 2021

57% easily forgotten

A pillbox is a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard-post, often camouflaged, normally equipped with loopholes through which defenders can fire weapons. It is in effect a trench firing step, hardened to protect against small-arms fire and grenades, and raised to improve the field of fire.

The modern concrete pillbox originated on the Western Front of World War I, in the German Army[1] in 1916.....This one was seen at Kilnsea near Spurn Point on the River Humber .

♫ Hardened Heart ♫

I've been trying to capture this in the right light for a couple of years now and finally this evening I think I might have captured what i wanted. This Stone Circle is almost hidden away on the moors and I wanted to capture it as the sun was setting

HEBREWS 3:8 (NIV)

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

The shackle of a rusty padlock.

Please enlarge to see the rusty detail.

Reverse mounted my lens to give a greater macro ability.

Hardened fongus ? captured on an old tree stump.

Whitetail Deer, Brown County, Wisconsin USA

Shiny and brght and locked up tight

... but the other horses stayed out of the photo.

B61 and 4910 curve through Harden with 3MS8 wagon transfer from Albury to Goulburn and Sydney.

2021-11-09 SSR B61-4910 Harden 3MS8

For the first time I tried doing a livestream as I was set up to take this shot. I know I am NOT a videographer! (I'm barely a photographer!) Anyway I did at least manage to get this.

PN's 8217 & 8110 round the curves at Harden with 9831 empty grain. 27/9/25

march 2014

zeeland, netherlands

victory liner 1878

like a Man but not one

south coast of Nova Scotia

Not as busy as it used to be.

Savannah, GA (Chatham County). Copyright 2007 D. Nelson

I have met these ethnic Tibetan boy in his native village on 2,380 m altitude in Manaslu area (Nepal). You may not find in the whole world such an independent and self confident children like those in Himalayas who live a simple natural life. While parents are busy working on the farm, these kids learn empirically the world around them. In such a harsh environment for children from the first years had to become self-sufficient.

Week 1 : 52 : 2025